Liquor bottles recovered from Mahabodhi temple premises in Bodh Gaya

PATNA: Nearly a dozen liquor bottles were recovered from the Mahabodhi temple premises in Bihar’s Bodh Gaya during a search operation on Wednesday, police said.

According to police, some of the bottles were found in bushes in an area close to the barrack and mess of police personnel deployed there while a few of them were allegedly recovered from a bag belonging to a policeman.

“Though there always is a thrust on security at the temple due to the high influx of foreign tourists, it has come under the spotlight because of the expected visit of Dalai Lama at the end of the year. We had some inputs regarding some kind of violations of the liquor ban on the temple premises. So, a search operation was conducted today during which nearly half a dozen wine bottles have been recovered from the bag of a policeman while few were found near the barracks of police personnel,” said Harpreet Kaur, senior superintendent of police (SSP), Gaya.

“The bottles are empty and the policeman is on leave. But we have asked for departmental proceedings against him,” the SSP said.

The SSP said that some unwanted items might be getting into the temple premises along with the materials supplied to policemen deployed within the temple campus.

“There’s high security at the entrance of the Mahabodhi and nothing is allowed without scanning. The unwanted items might have passed on from that side,” the SSP said.

A liquor ban is in force in Bihar since 2016 and this step by the Nitish Kumar government has been hailed, especially by the women, in the state.